Blank Realm – “go easy”

Over the course of five years and more than a dozen releases, Brisbane art-rockers Blank Realm have veered in and out of sonic focus, sometimes going all in for abstract, hiss-smothered synthscapes, sometimes weird, clattering outsider pop, and various places between and beyond. Go Easy is by far their most accessible yet, balancing the arty with the party beautifully to make for a set of danceable, hook-filled songs that bubble and bloom with an almost biological rampancy, shooting out tendrils of strange, snaking melody in every direction like vines enveloping a ruin. Acting Strange opens the album with a wriggly little riff twisting through a swirling cloud of noise, somewhat reminiscent of cult art-punks Chrome; Cleaning Up My Mess slows things down to a lilting, sunny lollop and adds some sweetly frazzled chants and an enormous, gorgeous spiral of a chorus; Working on Love is an irresistible wonky stomp that grabs and won’t let go. -Guardian UK